This case with Apple, seems to be the opposite of the Amazon case. Apple was founding guilty of colluding with
publishers to fix e-book prices.
“The suit accused Apple of being a ‘ringmaster’ of a conspiracy with
the five major publishers to raise the average price of e-books from the $9.99
price that Amazon had made standard for new e-book releases. Simon &
Schuster, HarperCollins and the Hachette Book Group settled the day the case
was filed; Penguin and Macmillan settled months later.”
Thoughts on this case? And its contrast/overlap with the
Amazon and Hachette one?
Read
more here: NYT- Settlement
in Apple Case Over E-Books Is Approved
What I find interesting about all of these cases is how Amazon exercises so much of what appears to be market power even though there are relatively few barriers to entry for the book, and especially e-book, industry.
ReplyDeleteWhile I purchase many of my e-books through Amazon for the convenience of sending them straight to my kindle, I've also bought them from Barnes & Noble and smaller independent sites like Goodreads. So how can Amazon get away with this kind of behavior? Is this a monopoly based on the strength of consumer preferences and convenience? The power of Amazon's brand?